


Midnight Snack

by Rosage



Series: A Handprint on My Heart [2]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Cindered Shadows DLC, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-02-23 00:02:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23969152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosage/pseuds/Rosage
Summary: It’s hard for Hapi to sleep from sundown to sunup when her roommate pulls all-nighters.
Relationships: Hapi/Constance von Nuvelle
Series: A Handprint on My Heart [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984274
Comments: 6
Kudos: 61





	Midnight Snack

Hapi wakes to Constance’s muttering. She can picture her roommate hunched over the desk, her hair tangled around her ears and stacks of books framing her head as she all but kisses the parchment.

“No, no, no,” Constance says, an echo of the voice in Hapi’s nightmare. Sweat from it mats her hair to her neck and forehead, hair she won’t bother to fix in the morning, no matter what Constance says. Another night will just mess it up again.

Furious scratching follows, then silence. Pure silence, no muffled shouts or other signs of life, a bad sign. Hapi swallows a sigh.

“You might as well join me, dear Hapi.”

“How’d you know I was awake?”

“When you stop snoring, you are either awake or deceased. It’s not like I was relying on the sound to stay calm.”

Hapi smiles into her pillow. How is someone so good at recognizing schemes so bad at hiding anything? It’s not a good trait to have in Abyss, but it’s a great one to have in a roommate.

The pillow catches her yawn. People who tell her to sleep less don’t appreciate the lives it saves.

“You might as well sleep, if your work is irritating you,” Hapi says.

“Absolutely not. The ones I must impress won’t sleep, and neither shall I.”

The nobles are probably sleeping like babies on velvet pillows, but Hapi doesn’t point that out. Instead, she drags herself out of bed and pokes her nose over Constance’s shoulder. Constance taps her notes with a fingernail, its purple polish chipped.

“Is there not precedence for a noble house being restored without loathsome methods? I can’t abide such underhanded deals,” Constance says.

“That’s just how getting anywhere in this world works.”

“Not for House Nuvelle, it won’t.”

Hapi doesn’t argue. If anyone can rise through sheer determination, without stepping on others in her path, it’s Coco. And if anyone can be a tragedy’s sole survivor, only to collapse from exhaustion, it’s her, too.

Hapi rubs between Constance’s shoulders, finding tense muscle. She presses it with her thumb and earns a sigh. Usually, Constance is careful not to tempt her.

“If you’re not gonna sleep, you need energy. Midnight snack time,” Hapi says.

Constance finally lifts her head. “It _is_ folly to work on an empty stomach.”

Hapi digs behind her laundry and pulls out a bag of cookies, which she dangles out of reach.

“I’m assuming you don’t wanna get your work dirty,” Hapi says.

Though Constance would deny it, she pouts as she stands and stretches her back, ruffling her frilly nightgown. “And where do you suggest we eat?”

“The bed, duh.” Now that she’s not in a literal cage, she refuses to sit on the floor.

“You expect me to eat in bed?”

“Sit on my bunk, if it bothers you.” Hapi plops down on the lower bunk and opens the bag. The mattress creaks as Constance joins her, wincing at the broken silence. Hapi scoots closer. “Here.”

Constance takes the offered cookie before Hapi can feed her. She cups a hand under her food as if she has anywhere to put the crumbs, then forgets them as she covers a yawn. Another yawn follows each cookie.

“Coco, if you keep that up, I’m gonna—”

“No, you won’t. And if monsters visit at this improper hour, I’ll zap them.”

Constance leans back, her eyelids drooping and her magic sapped, no matter what she says. Nobody else would relax around Hapi, even a guard in full armor. Especially one of those.

Climbing up to her bunk looks beyond Constance, but if she stands, she’ll go back to climbing the social ladder. Hapi stretches out, spreading her feet over Constance’s lap. Constance squeaks and pulls in her knees.

“Your feet are frigid!”

“Better fix that,” Hapi says. She lies down and pulls the sheet over everything her oversized shirt doesn’t cover, boxing Constance in against the wall. A familiar look, that of someone caged, makes her lie flat enough that Constance can climb over. Hapi pats the space beside her.

“Only for a moment,” Constance says. She drops slowly, her knees brushing Hapi’s legs as she curls up. Her cheek squishes against the pillow, close enough to see her eye bags where she’s rubbed off her makeup, her mask that melts in the sun.

Constance pokes Hapi’s cheek. “You must have the softest face in Fódlan,” she mumbles, breathing cookie breath. Nobody else could get away with prodding Hapi—but then, nobody else would agree. Constance’s eyes close, and Hapi tucks the sheet around her shoulders.

“Good night, Coco,” she whispers, but Constance is already asleep.


End file.
